These two very different Basque cities offer the visitor distinct pleasures. Bilbao, a shipbuilding and industrial city now boasts Frank Gehry's masterpiece, the new Guggenheim Museum—a titanium clad structure that suggests a great ocean liner beached on the banks of the Nervión River. The city's Old Quarter and modernist buildings make this a strong counterpoint to San Sebastián, Pearl on the Bay of Biscay, Spain's Biarritz.

Between Bilbao and San Sebastián are some of the Basque Country's prettiest coastal towns—Leikeitio, Zarautz, Getaría. Beyond Fuenterrabía, once the royal seat, with its Renaissance plaza and palace, tamarisk-lined promenade and colorful Basque houses, lie the Pyrenean foothills and a village known for its crafts.